BANGALORE: Jeffrey Immelt, the head of one of the world's largest corporations, has declared that businesses are far more sanguine about the state of the world economy than despairing economists, bankers, politicians and the markets.

"Broadly, when I talk to other CEOs (CEOs are notoriously bad economists, so we are not necessarily put on earth to make economic forecasts), business is better than the mood today. There is clearly, in Europe, a desire to see more harmonisation and stability. But the underlying business is better than the mood," the chairman and CEO of General Electric said on Monday.

GE ended 2010 with sales of $150 billion, about the same size as the economy of Kazakhstan. With manufacturing businesses that range from aircraft engines to water purifiers, GE is regarded as a bellwether for the global economy.

The GE chief pointed to the financial performance of corporations such as Oracle and Nike to argue that the glass is half full. "One is a retail consumer brand (Nike).

The other is an industry-based software company. Both are very strong. I just think there is a mixture of different sentiments that is going on," said Immelt, 55, who heads US President Barack Obama's council on jobs and competitiveness. "Clearly, in the developed world — US, Europe, Japan — the economy is a lot slower. But there is still useful activity there. And the emerging world is still strong."

Last week, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global growth in 2011 by 0.3 percentage points to 4% and warned that the world economy is entering a "dangerous new phase" with sharply higher risks of a double-dip recession in developed nations.

Europe's leaders are struggling to manage a sovereign debt crisis, which threatens to spread from Greece to other economies in the 17-nation euro area.

In the United States, growth remains anaemic and unemployment sits on a perch above 9% while politicians squabble. The US, which accounts for about one-fourth of the world economic output, is caught in political gridlock between Democrats and Republicans, making meaningful legislative action almost impossible. 'Immelt said he respects "healthy debate" but all parties must act together for the sake of the economy.

"Economics is typically a show of confidence. People have cash, they want to invest it. We need to do everything we can to instill confidence among the US consumers and the investing class in the US. Seeing one or two or three bipartisan things take place will help build confidence in the US today." The business community in general is in favour of the H1B visa programme and would like to see it extended and expanded, he said.